Discourses of care, wellbeing and women's rights: A case study of saving Mothers' comadronas' understanding of reproductive health in Guatemala in the misinformation age.

Abstract

The pushback on women's health rights, particularly when it comes to more vulnerable groups like indigenous women, has necessitated new approaches for targeted communication strategies by health NGOs on sexuality and reproductive health rights (SRHR). To assess indigenous women's understanding of health communications on SRHR, the researchers conducted focus groups with the comadronas of Saving Mothers in Guatemala to explore their reception to these messages. Our results underscored the difficulties of access of these groups to quality information on reproductive health matters, placing limits on their capacity to navigate a complex (and manipulated) media landscape on SRHR. Based on our findings, the necessity to foster partnerships between NGOs, indigenous women's groups, researchers and government to enhance health literacy skills, engaging with communities so as to co-create communications material that attends specifically to their needs is highlighted.